Every Second Matters
by Lady Monozuki
Summary: One-Shot, Fuji/Ryoma: It's a cold night. Ryoma needs Fuji, but he isn't there. Major character death.


**Lady Monozuki:** So, it's like two in the morning and the muse decides to roll with side stories. Sadly, out of the fifty I had, this was the only one that wanted to be written. I am still working on my other works. I hope to update them soon, but they doth protest too much. I hope you enjoy this all the same! Thank you for reading!

_It's cold tonight. There's no one to hold me._

He readjusted the blankets for the millionth time that night, trying to trap in the heat. No matter what, he couldn't stay warm. Ryoma curled his body in another vain attempt. Every night, it was the same. The emptiness of the bed had never settled well with him. There had always been someone by his side. However, this time, there was no one there. The familiar being that usually laid next to him was gone. He stretched out his arm to capture the missing body.

Warm droplets rolled down his cheeks. Why did it have to be this way? What had he done to deserve this pain? How could _they_ do this to him?

A light illuminated the dark room. Loud buzzing against the wood filled his ears. It continued for a few rings. He didn't care. The noise grew louder in the silence. Fed up, he picked up the phone without looking at the caller.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he snapped.

"Ryoma," he heard on the other side. His heart skipped a beat. Ryoma sucked in his breath, praying that he wasn't dreaming. "Ryoma, I'm sorry."

His body shook. How many times had he dreamed of this moment? How many times had he hoped that he would hear those words?

"I'm sorry for being out so late."

"Just come home," he said. "I need you here."

"I'll be home soon. I love you."

"I love you too," Ryoma whispered. He hung up the phone; a small smile adorned his lips. The cold and empty feeling disappeared with the anticipation of _his_ arrival. Soon, there would be someone to hold him, tell him that he was worth it, and tell him that he could make it through. All of the pain that he had felt would wash away.

The door creaked open. He wasn't alarmed. He knew who it was. A medium-height man walked through the door. His features were soft, almost feminine. Brown hair touched his shoulders and piercing blue eyes smile gently at Ryoma.

"Syuusuke," he breathed. "Thank god you're here. I thought you wouldn't make home. I had a dream where instead of you coming home, I had to go to the morgue to identify your body."

Syuusuke's face did not falter. Instead, it looked amused. "Why would you think that I would leave you?"

"I don't know; it was silly of me."

"Is this dream the reason why you couldn't sleep?" Syuusuke asked.

"Yes," he answered. Syuusuke climbed into bed next to him. He placed an arm around his lover's chest.

"Tell me more about the dream. You know sitting and thinking about it all of the time is not going to help."

"It was kind of like tonight. I couldn't get warm. Every time I reached for you, you weren't there. I watched the minutes pass on by. You called and said you were running late and that you were sorry. I told you to come home because I needed you. You said you would be here soon and told me that you loved me. I must've fallen asleep waiting for you because I know that I was woken up by another call. It was from the police. They said I was needed to identify your b-body. I drove to the morgue and followed the police to a cold slab. The room filled me with chills. The pulled back the cover and I saw y-your mutilated face. Gashes and cuts adorned your beautiful face.

"I remember telling them that it was you. They asked me to come with them. They took me to the police station and asked me where I was that night. I couldn't provide an alibi, but they didn't think I had killed you. They thought that a gang had k-killed you."

He couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Syuusuke rubbed his back gently.

"It's okay," Syuusuke said.

"T-They also said you were raped. Judging from the tears, that you were r-raped by multiple men," Ryoma said. "But they said you put up a h-hell of a fight."

"I'm so sorry; that must have been awful to hear. Did they ever find the killer in your dreams?"

"Yes, they found the gang who had killed you. They locked them up."

"See, everything ended happily."

"No it didn't," Ryoma said.

"Why not?"

"Because you were still gone, and all I was left with was an empty bed."

"Ryoma, it's okay now. I'll never leave your side again."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise, Ryoma."

A smile adorned his lips.

Tears continued to roll down his face. Darkness filled his vision once more. Cold bit at his limbs. This was nothing like the world he was just in. There was no one to hold him that night. There was no one to take away him pain. There was no one to hold him as he cried.

"Syuusuke," he whispered before taking in another breath. "I miss you."

"Kunimitsu, I have some bad news."

The bespectacled man looked up from his newspaper at the heir to Atobe Corporations.

"What is it, Keigo?"

"Echizen has passed away." He didn't say anything, only waited for Keigo to continue speaking. "They found him in their apartment. Apparently, he died in his sleep. They can't explain how a perfectly healthy twenty-three year old died, but-Echizen is gone."

"I think we both know why he died, Keigo."

Ever since Fuji had been found raped and murdered a month ago, Echizen had not been the same. The former rising tennis star had talked about his dead lover as though Fuji was still alive. Ryoma had always spoke about Syuusuke always coming home at night from the night that he had thought that Fuji had disappeared. No one had the heart to tell the twenty-three year old that his lover really was dead.

"Aa, he couldn't live without Fuji."

"Who would have thought that two of our friends would be gone so early? One a victim murder and the other of a lonely heart," Tezuka said solemnly.

"We should appreciate every second we have."

~End~


End file.
